Volcanic North Maluku island, once a rival clove-trade sultanate facing Ternate across a narrow strait
Tidore is a small volcanic island in North Maluku, separated from Ternate by a narrow strait. The two islands look almost like twins — each dominated by the perfect cone of a volcano rising straight from the sea — and for several hundred years they were the rival capitals of the world's clove trade. Where Ternate allied itself with the Dutch, Tidore took the Spanish side, and the contest between the two sultanates shaped European involvement in this corner of the archipelago.
Today Tidore is the quieter of the two. Most travellers cross over for the day from Ternate, take a bemo around the ring road, climb to one of the Spanish forts above Soasio for the view, and return on the late afternoon boat. Those who stay a night experience a slow, friendly island town with very little in the way of tourism infrastructure but plenty of historical depth — the Kadato Kie palace, the ruins of Fort Tahula and Fort Tohula, and a coastline of dark-sand beaches and clove gardens.
The island's central volcano, Gunung Kiematubu, reaches almost 1,730 m and can be climbed in a long day with a local guide. Around its lower slopes the air is heavy with the smell of clove — Tidore still produces the spice that once made it one of the richest places on earth, and you can buy fresh clove buds in the markets of Soasio for almost nothing.
Crossing from Ternate is straightforward: speedboats run from Bastiong harbour to Rum on the north tip of Tidore every half hour or so, taking about ten minutes. From Rum, public bemos and motorbike taxis cover the island's single ring road.
Guide
Getting Around
Tidore is small — about 78 square kilometres — and a single ring road circles the entire island. Public bemos run along the more populated eastern coast between Rum and Soasio with reasonable frequency, but service thins out considerably on the western and southern stretches.
The most flexible option is to hire a motorbike in Soasio for around 100,000 rupiah a day. The road is mostly paved and traffic is light; the only real hazards are the steep section over the southern shoulder of the volcano and the occasional unfenced livestock. A full circuit of the island takes about three hours with stops, and is one of the most pleasant motorbike rides in eastern Indonesia.
For trips up the volcano to Gurabunga or higher, arrange a guide and transport together in Soasio. Charter boats for trips around Maitara or to less accessible parts of the coast can be negotiated at Rum harbour or any of the fishing villages.
Guide
Getting There
Tidore has no airport. The standard route is to fly to Ternate — Sultan Babullah Airport, served by daily flights from Jakarta, Manado, Makassar and Ambon — and then cross by sea.
Speedboats run from Bastiong harbour on the south side of Ternate to Rum on the north tip of Tidore every twenty to thirty minutes from early morning until late afternoon. The crossing takes about ten minutes and costs a few thousand rupiah. There is also a slower car ferry from Bastiong to Rum that takes around 45 minutes and runs several times a day.
For the southern part of the island, a separate speedboat service connects Bastiong with Soasio directly, taking about 35 minutes. This is the most convenient option if your final destination is the town itself and you do not need to stop at Rum first.
From Rum, frequent bemos run south along the east coast road to Soasio (about 30 minutes, 10,000 rupiah). Motorbike taxis cover the same route slightly faster and at modestly higher cost.
Guide
Things to Do
The main pull of Tidore is its history — the island was, with Ternate across the strait, one of the four great clove sultanates of North Maluku, and the rebuilt Kadato Kie palace together with the Sonyine Malige Museum and the Sultan Nuku Monument trace that history clearly. The two Spanish forts above Soasio — Fort Tahula and Fort Tohula — are short climbs with excellent views and almost no other visitors.
For more active travellers, the climb up Gunung Kiematubu is the obvious challenge — a long, steep day from the village of Gurabunga that finishes at one of the best summit views in eastern Indonesia. Less ambitious days can be spent circling the island on the ring road, stopping at the Akesahu hot springs, and walking through the clove gardens on the middle slopes.
Quieter pleasures include a short charter from Rum harbour to Maitara Island for snorkelling, and a wander through the streets of Soasio — its great mosque, its market, its evening seafront walk.
